Label Review. 

2020 album. Also available on Vinyl. 

Our Overview. 

American female psych/punk/garage band from Los Angeles release second album ‘Play With Fire’.Where their self-titled album oozed with vibe and atmosphere, with the whole mix draped in reverb, sonically placing the band in some distant realm, broadcast across some unknown chasm of time, second album ‘Play With Fire’ comes crashing out of the gate with a bold, brash, in-your-face rocker “Fire Starter.” The authoritative opener is a deliberate mission statement.

“‘Play With Fire’ is a suggestion to make things happen,” says vocalist/guitarist Sade Sanchez. “Don’t fear mistakes or the future. Take a chance. Say and do what you really feel, even if nobody agrees with your ideas. These are feelings that have stopped me in the past. I want to inspire others to be freethinkers even if it causes a little burn.” And by that line of reasoning, “Fire Starter” becomes a call to action, an anthem against apathy. From there, the album segues into the similarly bodacious rocker “Motorcycle Boy” a feisty love song inspired by classic cinema outlaws like Mickey Rourke, Marlon Brando, and Steve McQueen. At track three, we hear L.A. Witch expand into new territories as “Dark Horse” unfurls a mixture of dustbowl folk, psychedelic breakdowns, and fire-and-brimstone organ lines. And from there, the band only gets more adventurous.

‘Play With Fire’ is a bold new journey that retains L.A. Witch’s siren-song mystique, nostalgic spirit, and contemporary cool. Despite the stylistic breadth of the record, there is a unifying timbre across the album’s nine tracks, as if the trio of young musicians is bound together as a collective of old souls tapping into the sounds of their previous youth.

Tracklisting: Fire Starter / Motorcycle Boy / Dark Horse / I Wanna Lose / Gen-Z / Sexorexia / Maybe the Weather / True Believers / Starred

Label Review. 

2020 album. Indie. Also available on CD. 

Our Overview. 

Former singer and songwriter with The Broken Family Band Steven Adams releases his second album with current band The French Drops called ‘Keep It Light’. The buoyant and relaxed mood can be heard across the album in its gloriously skipping tones, as it traverses across indie, pop, alt-rock and more tender acoustic and folk-leaning moments. It’s a craft that Adams has been honing for years as the lead figure in outfits such as The Broken Family Band and Singing Adams, so much so that by now it oozes out of him with a seamless grace.

The album is one as full of joy and beauty as it is ink black humour and caustic revelation. On the gorgeous shuffle of “Oh Dear” - recalling the kind of stripped back beauty of Yo La Tengo at their finest - Adams sings: “and true love will not find you in the end.” A knowing nod and a wink to Daniel Johnston’s earnest refrain that indeed true love will find you in the end. It’s such moments that fill the album with equal parts weight and lightness, a smart touch delivered with a deft hand. Of the broad range of the album and its wide-spanning lyrical content Adams simply says: “the upbeat stuff is pretty upbeat and the darker stuff is pretty dark, but it’s all still with some humour.”

“I love making records but sometimes time, money, or people - including me - fuck up my enjoyment of the process. So this time I kept saying to myself ‘keep it light’ whenever I was making decisions.” Once described by The Guardian as “one of Britain’s smartest, most underrated songwriters”, Adams’ aim was clear with this record. “I wanted to make a super personal, light-hearted and upbeat record,” he says. “I wanted to do the whole write about what you know thing and keep it as light as possible.” The lightness of the album was a guiding principle but it wasn’t a rule set in stone, as Adams soon found out the deeper he plunged into himself. “We had a running joke about how we were making an album called ‘Keep it Light’ that is full of songs about racists and panic attacks and existential angst,” he says. “But it does you good to get that stuff out. Writing songs and making records keeps me sane.”

Tracklisting: Soft Landings / Bring on the Naps / Canary / Gracechurch St / Oh Dear / Going to Everglades / Note to Self / My Brother The Racist / Jonny / Mr Sunshine

Label Review. 

2020 album. Alt rock. Also available on Vinyl. 

Our Overview. 

Tennessee-based rock band Bully release their third album ‘Sugaregg’ The old saying goes that no one saves us but ourselves. Recognizing and breaking free from the patterns impeding our forward progress can be transformative - just ask Bully’s Alicia Bognanno. The album may not ever have come to fruition had Bognanno not navigated every kind of upheaval imaginable and completely overhauled her working process along the way. “There was change that needed to happen and it happened on this record,” she says. “Derailing my ego and insecurities allowed me to give these songs the attention they deserved.”

‘Sugaregg’ roars from the speakers and jump starts both heart and mind. Like My Bloody Valentine after three double espressos, opener “Add It On” zooms heavenward within seconds, epitomizing Alicia’s newfound clarity of purpose, while the bass-driven melodies and propulsive beats of “Where to Start” and “Let You” are the musical equivalents of the sun piercing through a perpetually cloudy sky.

On songs like the strident “Every Tradition” and “Not Ashamed”, Bognanno doesn’t shy away from addressing “how I feel as a human holds up against what society expects or assumes of me as a woman, and what it feels like to naturally challenge.” But amongst the more dense topics, there’s also a light-heartedness that was lacking on Bully’s last album, 2017’s ‘Losing’. Pointing to “Where to Start”, “You” and “Let You”, Bognanno says “there are more songs about erratic, dysfunctional love in an upbeat way, like, ‘I’m going down and that’s the only way I want to go because the momentary joy is worth it.’”

Tracklisting: Add It On / Every Tradition / Where to Start / Prism / You / Let You / Like Fire / Stuck in Your Head / Come Down / Not Ashamed / Hours and Hours / What I Wanted

Label Review. 

1990 album. Also available on CD and Deluxe CD. 

Our Overview. 

The 30th Anniversary reissue of ‘Wrong Way Up’, the historic coming together of two icons of leftfield music: Brian Eno and John Cale. Having both started their careers as creative forces in seminal bands (Eno’s unique synthesizer treatments in Roxy Music and Cale’s viola and bass contributions to the Velvet Underground), they’ve appeared as guest musicians on each other’s records as far back as 1974, the year in which they also made a historic live album with Nico and Kevin Ayers at the Rainbow Theatre in London.

They remained friends and the year prior to ‘Wrong Way Up’, Eno produced Cale’s ‘Words For The Dying’ album. This paved the way for the pair to write and record an album together, notably the first time Eno had delivered a collection of song-based recordings since ‘Before And After Science’ in 1977. The resulting album is a triumph for both artists, containing the singles ‘Spinning Away’ and ‘Been There Done That’. The b-sides to the ‘Spinning Away’ single are included as bonus tracks.

Despite the pair’s avant-garde leaning’s the resulting album turned out to be a stunning pop record. Pitchfork said of the album: “Brian Eno and John Cale’s 1990 collaboration is an album of contention, contrasts, cycles, and pop songs so layered and euphoric it ranks among the best albums either artist has ever made.”

Tracklisting: Lay My Love / One Word / In The Backroom / Empty Frame / Cordoba / Spinning Away / Footsteps / Been There Done That / Crime In The Desert / The River

Label Review. 

2020 album. Indie rock. Also available on CD. 

Our Overview. 

Seattle based indie rock trio Naked Giants release their second album ‘The Shadow’ produced by Chris Funk of the Decemberists and follows the ‘Green Fuzz’ EP (2019) and debut album ‘Sluff’ (2018). ‘The Shadow’ is an energetic and exhilarating musical rollercoaster ride. Within the first ten minutes the band have already careened through a blitz of post-punk riffing, wastoid gang shouting, a singalong anthem-for-the-disaffected and a Talking Heads-ish funkrock workout with bits of shimmery synth and lo-fi slide guitar riffing thrown in for good measure.

‘The Shadow’ also reveals new and welcome layers to the Naked Giants sound, both musically and lyrically. The band say ‘The Shadow’ “is a much more honest album than ‘Sluff’ - we’ve come to realize that the path to becoming a better person and bringing positivity into the world isn’t always linear, and there’s a lot of growth in taking an honest look at the ‘shadow-y’ parts of life. Whether it’s personal anxiety and depression or collective guilt and trauma, there’s always a part of yourself that’s hard to confront and understand. But ‘The Shadow’ is all about facing that darkness and having the strength to bring it into the light.”

Tracklisting: Walk Of Doom / High School (Don’t Like Them) / Take A Chance / Turns Blue / (God Damn!) What I Am / The Ripper / Unpeeled / Television / Better Not Waste My Time / The Shadow / Song For When You Sleep

Label Review. 

2020 album. Indie. Also available on CD, Black vinyl and Blue Vinyl. 

Our Overview. 

First formed in a Chicago apartment in 2014, tackling songs by the Everly Brothers, Allen Toussaint and more, Whitney follow their acclaimed sophomore 2019 album ‘Forever Turned Around’, by deciding to record a loving tribute to songs that have been formative and lasting to the entire band.

‘Candid’ is a 10-song collection boasting covers of artists like Kelela, David Byrne, John Denver, SWV and others but it’s also a band challenging themselves to explore more than their musical comfort zone. “This could’ve been as simple as saying we really love these songs and we love our bandmates and making a covers record just felt right but it truly became an exploration into how we can evolve as a band going forward,” says drummer and singer Julien Ehrlich.

Covers have long been an integral part of Whitney’s ethos. Ever since the band played an important part in the songwriting process for their breakthrough 2016 debut ‘Light Upon The Lake’. Since then, their takes on NRBQ’s ‘Magnet’ and Neil Young’s ‘On The Way Home’ have become live staples, an essential and communal part of their sets. Their love for the music that makes up their deepest influences has always been genuine and tangible.

The album is a sincere snapshot of their evolving and eclectic tastes that’s imbued with a wholly inviting charm. It’s Whitney at their most unvarnished and inventive but most importantly, it’s a heartfelt tribute to the songwriters who’ve helped them most.

Tracklisting: Bank Head / A.M. AM / Take Me Home, Country Roads (ft Waxahatchee) / High on a Rocky Ledge / Something Happen / Strange Overtones / Hammond Song / Crying, Laughing, Loving, Lying / Rain / Rainbows & Ridges

Label Review. 

2020 album. Also available on CD and Coloured Vinyl. 

Our Overview. 

American indie band Bright Eyes, lead by Conor Oberst, release their tenth studio album and first release since 2011, ‘Down in the Weeds, Where the World Once Was’ - a record caught in the profound in-between of grief and clarity - one arm wrestling its demons, the other gripping the hand of love, in spite of it.

The end of Bright Eyes’ unofficial hiatus came naturally. Conor Oberst pitched the idea of getting the band back together during a 2017 Christmas party at Bright Eyes bandmate Nathaniel Walcott’s Los Angeles home. The two huddled in the bathroom and called Mike Mogis, who was Christmas shopping at an Omaha mall. Mogis immediately said yes. There was no specific catalyst for the trio, aside from finding comfort amidst a decade of brutal change.

The resulting Bright Eyes album came together unlike any other of its predecessors. ‘Down in the Weeds, Where the World Once Was’ is Bright Eyes’ most collaborative, stemming from only one demo and written in stints in Omaha and in bits and pieces in Walcott’s Los Angeles home. Radically altering a writing process 25 years into a project seems daunting but Oberst said there was no trepidation: “Our history and our friendship, and my trust level with them, is so complete and deep. And I wanted it to feel as much like a three-headed monster as possible.”

‘Down in the Weeds, Where the World Once Was’ is a distillation of a prolific, enduring canon. It’s immediate and urgent, the product of its creators’ growth across a decade apart, as well as the need to make a record together to find solace from loss. Through deliberate, fearless experimentation in process, the trio made the truest Bright Eyes sound: the sound of a deep bond, of a band coming home but also a seamless continuation, like Bright Eyes never went away. It’s the impossible, sprawling mess of human experience that Bright Eyes has always sought to put to tape, since the beginning - the sound of holding on.

Tracklisting: Pageturners Rag / Dance and Sing / Just once in the World / Mariana Trench / One and Done / Pan and Broom / Stairwell Song / Persona Non Grata / Tilt-A-Whirl / Hot Car in the Sun / Forced Convalescence / To Death’s Heart (In Three Parts) / Calais to Dover / Comet Song

Label Review. 

2020 album. Also available on Vinyl. 

Our Overview. 

Manic Street Preachers frontman James Dean Bradfield releases his second solo album ‘Even In Exile’. Using the lyrics of Patrick Jones (James’ bandmate Nicky Wire’s brother) it is inspired by the story of Victor Jara, the Chilean poet-singer-activist who was tortured and killed during the early days of the dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet. An ultra-vivid eulogy to a brilliant life cut short, ‘Even In Exile’ is a beautiful collection of songs that loosely traces Victor Jara’s story - at points pure and biographical, at others dreamlike and opaque, Bradfield sets Jones’ words written specifically for the project to some of the most addictive and affecting melodies he’s ever composed.

James says “I’d known about him all my life. I knew the story, the tragedy, the political history – but I never really knew much about Victor Jara’s music. When I started listening to it two years ago, I was just stunned that his music could have such a tender and beautiful heart. There’s such a spirit of reconciliation in his protest music and I’d never heard that before. Protest music is usually quite confrontational. That led me on to make a record trying to reach and communicate with other people – not to just confront. I’m glad that in this day and age, I chose to write about someone like Victor – a person that wanted people to be together rather than apart.”

Tracklisting: Recuerda / The Boy From The Plantation / There’ll Come A War / Seeking The Room With The Three Windows / Thirty Thousand Milk Bottles / Under The Mimosa Tree / From The Hands Of Violeta / Without Knowing The End (Joan’s Song) / La Partida / The Last Song / Santiago Sunrise

Label Review. 

2020 album. His final solo recordings made before he passed in 2013. Also available on CD. 

Our Overview. 

‘Eight Gates’ is the last collection of solo studio recordings American singer songwriter Jason Molina made before he passed from complications related to alcoholism in 2013. Raised in northern Ohio, he came to prominence performing and recording as Songs: Ohia, both in solo projects and with a rotating cast of musicians in the late 1990s. Beginning in 2003, he would garner a further indie following for his releases with the band Magnolia Electric Co.

Sometime in 2006 or 2007, Jason Molina moved from the Midwest to London, England. Separated from his bandmates and friends and never one for idleness, Molina explored his new home with fervour. Sometimes he’d head out on foot, often with no destination in mind. Other times, he’d pick a random tube stop and find his way back home. He’d pick up on arcane trivia about London’s rich history and if the historical factoids weren’t available - or weren’t quite to his liking - Molina was quite comfortable conjuring his own history. His adoration of The Great American Tall Tales like John Henry and Paul Bunyan’s blue ox Babe stretched across the Atlantic, where he created his own personal Tall Tales. And when he learned of the London Wall’s seven gates (itself a misconception), Molina went ahead and called it eight, carving out a gate just for himself. The eighth gate was Molina’s way into London, a gate only passable in the mind.

Recorded whilst in London, some of the songs (“Whispered Away”, “Thistle Blue”) are fully-realized - dark, moody textures that call to mind his earlier work on ‘The Lioness’. Other songs (“She Says”, “The Crossroads and The Emptiness”) lay in a more unfinished state, acoustic takes that call to mind Molina’s “Let Me Go Let Me Go Let Me Go”, and still tethered to Molina’s humorous studio banter. On the closer, ‘The Crossroads and The Emptiness’, Molina snaps at the engineer before tearing into a song in which he sings of his birthday (December 30), a palm reading and the great emptiness with which he always wrestled. It is a perfect closer and, in many ways, the eighth gate incarnate: mythical, passable only in the mind, built for himself and partway imaginary but shared, thankfully, with us.

Tracklisting: Whisper Away / Shadow Answers the Wall / The Mission’s End / Old Worry / She Says / Fire on the Rail / Be Told the Truth / Thistle Blue / The Crossroads and the Emptiness

Label Review. 

2020 album. Indie. Also available on Vinyl. 

Our Overview. 

Eyedress is LA based Filipino singer, musician and producer Idris Vicuña. ‘Let’s Skip To The Wedding’ is his first album since relocating from Manila to the US in late 2018. A passionate exploration of the themes of love, adjusting to life in a new city, and preparing to welcome a child into this ever changing world. His unique songwriting pairs lovesick lyrics with infectious guitar hooks & his trademark, cold wave inspired, woozy synths. “My next album is for everyone who wants to be in a serious relationship, real simp shit”.

The album follows his ‘Valentine’s Day’ single, which was championed by Mike D (Beastie Boys) on his Beats 1 show, and 2019’s ‘Jealous’ EP, whose title track has grown to become his most popular to date. Over the past year Eyedress began collaborating with kindred spirits like Cuco, Triathalon and Inner Wave, and earned a reputation for his wild and unpredictable performances, which saw him sharing stages with acts like Homeshake, Enjoy, Jasper Bones, N8NOFACE and B Cool Aid, as well as supporting Inner Wave on their 13 date west coast tour.

His last album ‘Sensitive G’ was a personal reflection of Manila life told through the music of his youth; dreampop, punk & indie rock. In 2017 he released his debut album ‘Manila Ice’, a record about love and survival in the Philippines. Eyedress has previously collaborated with King Krule, VRITRA, Fazerdaze and Jess Connelly. “I will continue to create works that send a message to inform and awaken those that are not aware of the social injustices going on around us every day.”

Tracklisting: Let’s Skip to The Wedding / Skateboarding Day / Never Want To Be Apart / Can I See You Tonight? / Romantic Lover / X-Girl / I Don’t Wanna Be Your Friend / Jealous / Last Time I’m Falling In Love / Pop The Question / Happy Hour / Trauma / My Girl The Finest / Never Been To Prom / Mystical Creature’s Best Friend / Pick Up Your Phone / Self Improvement / Kiss Me Like It’s The Last Time / Anything For You

Label Review. 

2020 album. Indie. Also available on CD. 

Our Overview. 

On her second solo album, ‘Who The Power’, Liela Moss follows 2018’s deeply personal ‘My Name Is Safe in Your Mouth’ - an album at times serene, at others stormy, on every front sumptuous. Now, she has forged an album of questioning intensity and synth-loaded drama, with the expressive force in her voice refuelled by the urgent desire to interrogate the role of selfhood in fraught times. And, crucially, backed by the urgent grooves needed for the job. “If you’re going to deconstruct the modern psyche,” says Liela Moss, “you might as well dance to it.”

Album opener “Turn Your Back Around” is a yearning eco-lament set to banked synths over a propulsive beat. Or, as Moss puts it: “One filthy, upbeat, downhearted, close-your-eyes-and dance- by-yourself pop song, offered as a parting gift to Mother Earth”. “Watching The Wolf” is another forthright song for today, its brooding, near-gothic swagger framing a righteous modern-day folk tale about wolves converging to unseat a toxic political pundit. A controlled rage shows in Moss’s voice, which grows more liberated still amid the simmering darkwave throb of “Atoms At Me”, where Moss issues a call to free the senses from the call to consume.

Elsewhere, the moody elegance of ‘Battlefield’ and bruised plea of ‘Nummah’ rank among Moss’s finest vocal performances. ‘Suako’ offers pulsing synth-rock impetus to risk starting anew, while the blissful ‘Stolen Careful’ ends the album on a palpable note of revitalisation, all risks rewarded as Moss emerges refreshed in her hunger to explore new, meaningful ways to engage with the world.

Widescreen ambitions fulfilled, the result is another bold leap forward for one of alt-rock’s most magnetic, exploratory voices. Over 14 years, Moss’s work with the Duke Spirit (on pause) ranged from brawling riff-rock to more cinematic ventures. Other gigs have included synth-rock recordings with Butler under the name Roman Remains and various collaborative ventures – with UNKLE, Nick Cave, Giorgio Moroder and Lost Horizons, as well as serving as muse for fashion icons Alexander McQueen and Phillip Lim, among others.

Tracklisting: Turn Your Back Around / Watching The Wolf / Atoms At Me / Always Sliding / The Individual / White Feather / Battlefield / Nummah / Suako / Stolen Careful

Label Review. 

2020 album. Electronic. Also available on Vinyl. 

Our Overview. 

‘Purple Noon’, is Ernest Greene’s fourth album as Washed Out and presents his most accessible creation to date. Greene again wrote, recorded and produced the entirety of the album, with mixing handled by frequent collaborator Ben H. Allen. Production of the album followed a brief stint of writing for other artists (most notably Sudan Archives), which enabled Greene to explore genres like R&B and modern pop. These brighter, more robust sounds made their way into the songs of ‘Purple Noon’ and mark a new chapter for Greene as a producer and songwriter. The vocals are front and centre, tempos are slower, beats bolder, and there’s a more comprehensive depth of dynamics. One can hear the luxuriousness of Sade, the sonic bombast of Phil Collins and the lush atmosphere of the great Balearic beat classics.

Mediterranean coastlines inspired ‘Purple Noon’ and Greene pays tribute to the region’s distinct island culture - all rugged elegance and old-world charm - and uses it as a backdrop to tell stories of passion, love and loss (‘Purple Noon’s title comes from the 1960 film directed by Rene Clement and based on the novel ‘The Talented Mister Ripley’ by Patricia Highsmith). Much like romantic Hollywood epics, the melodrama throughout is strong: a serendipitous first meeting in “Too Late”; a passionate love affair in “Paralyzed”; disintegration of a relationship in “Time to Walk Away”; a reunion with a lost love in “Game of Chance”. ‘Purple Noon’ adds a layer of emotional intensity to the escapism of Washed Out’s oeuvre, taking the music to dazzling new heights.

Tracklisting: Too Late / Face Up / Time to Walk Away / Paralyzed / Reckless Desires / Game of Chance / Leave You Behind / Don’t Go / Hide / Haunt

Label Review. 

2020 album. Also available on Vinyl. 

Our Overview. 

On ‘Prisyn’, his third album as Jaye Jayle, Evan Patterson continues to show he is a wanderer and an explorer. It’s evident in the constant evolution of his music since his earliest days as a guitarist in left-of-center bands, but it’s best exemplified by the constant creative shifts within the fever-dream blues of Jaye Jayle. Patterson takes his boldest leap into unknown territories, capturing immediate moments in his ever-shifting surroundings with the most basic tool at his disposal: the GarageBand app on an iPhone.

The album began with a request from couture designer Ashley Rose, when she proposed that Evan Patterson team up with Sargent House label mates Chelsea Wolfe and Ben Chisholm to create a soundtrack for one of her upcoming fashion shows. Patterson was in the early stages of a massive eleven-week stretch of touring and used his downtime in the van to flesh out ideas on his phone. “I sent a track to Ben and he sent it back the next day with additional instrumentation, sounds, and effects,” Patterson recalls. “It was wild. He suggested we make a whole record that way. I printed out all these poems, stories, and journal entries I’d made on my phone over the course of the year and went into the studio with my friend Warren (Christopher Gray). We’d find things that rhythmically worked, and that’s how all the lyrics and singing happened. It was all gut instinct, improvisational,” Patterson recalls. “The vocal approach isn’t meant to be full of hooks and melody."

The record’s title “Prisyn” is a play on the idea of a synthetic prison, and alludes to Patterson’s desire for artistic freedom and the album’s conflicted use of addictive technologies. Evan comments, “These songs have a totally different energy, and that’s the exciting thing about making art. Things have to progress. I don’t want to draw the same picture for the rest of my life. Maybe that keeps you from being a master at it, but being a master isn’t the key to art. It’s having that constant expression, the constant outlet, the constant change”.

Tracklisting: A Cold Wind / Don’t Blame the Rain / Synthetic Prison / The River Spree / Making Friends / Guntime / Blueberries / I Need You / The Last Drive / From Louisville

Label Review. 

2020 album. Also available on CD. 

Our Overview. 

English psych pop band Glass Animals release their third studio album ‘Dreamland’. At the heart of ‘Dreamland’ lies the quietly enigmatic Dave Bayley, the bands’ frontman and producer extraordinaire who’s work extends far beyond that of Glass Animals, with credits including Joey Bada$$, Flume, Wale, Khalid and most recently Denzel Curry on the late 2019 single “Tokyo Drifting”.

For Bayley, ‘Dreamland’ is a nostalgic memoir of his life so far, covering expansive and difficult ground and holding nothing back. It’s packed full of personal experiences, none more emotional than when the bands drummer Joe Seaward was involved in a monstrous bike accident in July 2018 which threatened his life, and that of Glass Animals altogether. In truth, now is the perfect time for such a poetic dive into the self: ‘Dreamland’ arrives in the midst of a global pandemic and it’s a time for reflection on life itself; for looking back on memories of the past, taking stock of where we are and what we have, and cherishing our loved ones.

‘Dreamland’ finds Bayley slipping into his own crevices, blending past and present reflections in a seemingly stream-of-conscious overhaul of the self: “The idea for this album came at a time of confusion and uncertainty,” Bayley explains. “My best friend was in the hospital. I didn’t know if he’d make it. The future was damn scary and completely unknown.”.

Bayley explains that ‘Dreamland’ “goes through many of the most confusing moments in my life. It’s about growing up, from my first memories as a little kid to now. Quite often those moments are funny, sometimes awkward, sometimes heart-breaking, sometimes it’s about love or hate or sexuality. It’s about realising it’s ok to not have answers and it’s ok to not know how you feel about things and that it’s ok to be and look vulnerable. In fact, all of that is quite exciting. So often life asks us for binary yes or no answers. It asks us to conform and to fit in. But the world is so much more interesting and colourful than that… it’s a much more fluid and uncertain place.”

Tracklisting: Dreamland / Tangerine / / ((home movie: 1994)) / Hot Sugar / ((home movie: BTX)) / Space Ghost Coast to Coast / Tokyo Drifting / Melon and the Coconut / Your Love (Déjà vu) / Waterfalls Coming Out Your Mouth / It’s All So Incredibly Loud / ((home movie: rockets)) / Domestic Bliss / Heat Waves / ((home movie: shoes on)) / Helium

Label Review. 

1981 album. Synth pop. Also available on Vinyl. 

Our Overview. 

The early 80s were prolific for Electronic music pioneer Hideki Matsutake. As the go-to keyboard programmer for the tokyo music scene, he worked with Akiko Yano, Ryuichi Sakamoto, Mkwaju Ensemble’s “Mkwaju” and found time to record two albums under the Logic System name in 1981. While the first album, ‘Logic’ had a harder techno feel, the second one ‘Venus’ was different affair.

Recorded in Los Angeles at the new state of the art Yamaha Studio, it was loosely themed on the Greek goddess Venus and had a funkier more organic sound. For the album Matsutake had asked a handful of American musicians to provide songs he would then add his synth magic touch to. Michael Boddicker, Don Grusin, Nathan East and Roger Powell duly complied and also played on the album. The updated sound was achieved by switching from the Moog III to the E-mu modular System (which Matsutake brought over to LA) and other synths like the Prophet 5, the Roland MC-8 and TR 808 and the Yamaha GS-1, a forerunner of the DX7. The result is an amazing futuristic mix of electronic music and early 80s funk, announcing many genres to come, from techno and house to French electro and Vaporwave.

From the breezy ambient synth of “I Love You” to the city pop edge of “Be Yourself” (originally written by Nathan East for Debra Laws) and the vocoder-led Daft Punk-ish “Take A Chance”, ‘Venus’ is a fascinating album that both pushes the boundaries of electronic music and is yet strangely accessible and beautiful.

Tracklisting: Venus / Morpheus / I Love You / Plan / Take A Chance / Automatic Collect Automatic Correct / Be Yourself / Prophet / Metamorphism / Equivalent

Label Review. 

2020 album. Electronic. Also available on CD. 

Our Overview. 

Los Angeles composer, artist, and producer Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith has chartered a pioneering career with multiple critically-acclaimed albums since 2015. Following the release of ‘The Kid’ in 2017, Smith focused her energy in several directions. She founded Touchtheplants, a multidisciplinary creative environment for projects including the first volumes in her instrumental Electronic Series and pocket-sized poetry books on the practice of listening within. She’s continued to explore the endless possibilities of electronic instruments as well as the shapes, movements, and expressions found in the physical body’s relationship to sound and color. It is this life-guiding interest that forms the foundational frequencies of her latest full-length, ‘The Mosaic of Transformation’, a bright, sensorial glide through unbound wave phenomena and the radiant power discovered within oneself.

“I guess in one sentence, this album is my expression of love and appreciation for electricity,” says Kaithlyn. While writing and recording, she embraced a daily practice of physical movement, passing electricity through her body and into motion, in ways reflecting her audio practice, which sends currents through modular synthesizers and into the air through speakers. Not a dancer by any traditional definition, she taught herself improvisatory movement realizing flexibility, strength, and unexpectedly, what Smith calls “a visual language” (the term was introduced to her by filmmaker Sean Hellfritsch) stemming from the human body and comprised of vibrational shapes. Understood as cymatics, as she says, “as a reference for how frequencies can be visualized,” much like a mosaic.

As it has arrived, in a completed state, The Mosaic of Transformation is a holistic manifestation of embodied motions. Airy organ and voice interweave with burbling Buchla-spawned harmonic bubbles. If the record could be summarized in a single movement, it is the 10-minute closing suite, a rapturous collage called “Expanding Electricity.” Symphonic phrases establish the piece before washes of glittering electric peals and synthesized vibraphone helix into focus. Soon, Smith’s voice grounds it all with an intuitive vocal hook, harmonized and augmented by concentric spirals of harp-and-horn-like sounds. Smith’s music doesn’t capture a specific emotion as much as it captures the joys of possessing a body, and the ability to, with devotion and a steady open heart, maneuver that vessel in space by way of electricity to euphoric degrees.

Tracklisting: Unbraiding Boundless Energy Within Boundaries / Remembering / Understanding Body Messages / The Steady Heart / Carrying Gravity / The Spine Is Quiet In The Center / Overflowing / Deepening The Flow Of / Expanding Electricity